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Despite repeatedly stating President Barack Obama was “the founder of ISIS,” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Friday morning his original comments were sarcastic.
Trump, in an early Friday morning tweet, criticized the “ratings challenged” CNN for seriously reporting his repeated statement that Obama “founded” the Islamic State.
“THEY DON'T GET SARCASM?” he asked.
Trump first made the false claim that the president founded the terrorist group in a Sunrise, Florida rally Wednesday, asserting “ISIS is honoring President Obama — he is the founder of ISIS.”
“He is the founder of ISIS, OK? He’s the founder,” Trump continued. “He founded ISIS. And I would say the co-founder would be crooked Hillary Clinton.”
He repeated the claim the next day in Miami — jabbing Clinton as “the most valuable player” for the group — and on radio host Hugh Hewitt’s show.
When Hewitt suggested that Trump had meant instead that Obama “created the vacuum, he lost the peace,” Trump rejected Hewitt’s softening of his assertion.
“No, I meant he’s the founder of ISIS,” Trump said. “I do.”
Hewitt responded, “But he’s not sympathetic to them. He hates them. He’s trying to kill them.”
“I don’t care,” Trump shot back. “He was the founder. The way he got out of Iraq was, that was the founding of ISIS, okay?”